Jordan Clarkson Is Ready for the Biggest Offseason of His Life

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — It’s a sleepy afternoon as Jordan Clarkson—dressed in spotless white vans, modishly torn jeans and a self-graffitied white hoodie—plops down for lunch.

The most consistent player on a Los Angeles Lakers team that’s won 38 games since he was drafted, Clarkson is about to enter the busiest, most pivotal and financially significant summer of his life. On May 26, Nike ships him to Manila, Philippines. Then it’s off to Beijing on behalf of NBA Cares until the first week of June.

The philanthropic travels mean a lot to Clarkson, but just as notable is his looming restricted free agency on July 1. Whether another team extends an offer sheet or the Lakers make a firm long-term commitment on their own (the two most probable scenarios), his savings account will soon swell in a way most 46th overall picks never experience.

Surprise! This is what it’s all about. Bringing smiles through the common love of basketball. #Nike pic.twitter.com/cCLWzeYWdo

— Jordan Clarkson (@JClark5on) May 28, 2016

But the 23-year-old (his birthday is June 7) claims he doesn’t talk to his agent about such things, then chuckles when asked if he expects the entire process to induce any anxiety. In his eyes, the only franchise he’s ever played for is like family.

“So, I want to be here in L.A.,” Clarkson said. “This is the place where I want to call home, so I’m just in the gym and working. That’s all I can control—myself getting better. If I end up somewhere else or I stay in L.A., that’s what I’d love to do.”

After two years of hopelessness and unwatchable basketball, he’s excited about Luke Walton becoming Los Angeles’ new head coach. Clarkson happily ran around his house, yelling, when D’Angelo Russell first broke the news with a text message, perhaps a sign of the franchise’s upward trajectory.

But those are big-picture concepts, and right now Clarkson is understandably day-to-day. In the short term, his mind is focused on more simple things. First up is his basketball camp, which kicks off June 6 in Corona, California. It’s four days of teaching and positively impacting the lives of children by merely being a living, breathing NBA player in their presence.

“It just means a lot to me because I didn’t have the opportunity to experience camp and stuff when I was younger, with NBA guys,” he said. “So it’s definitely something where I want to give back to the community. I enjoy working with kids and impacting their lives any way I can.”

Jetting across the globe one week, then running around all day with a bunch of children the next, sounds demanding because it is. But once it’s over, Clarkson’s life will go back to revolving around his quest to become the best basketball player he can be.

The gym is Clarkson’s sanctuary. Each day he wakes up and drives to the Lakers practice facility for a morning lift before running through a series of on-court drills to improve his shot, ball-handling, on-ball defense, balance, footwork and composure.

The one I observe right before our lunch is particularly grueling. For about 45 minutes, he alternates between pull-up and catch-and-shoot jumpers with Lakers coaches Thomas Scott and J.J. Outlaw smashing a large purple exercise ball off Clarkson’s frame to simulate screens and defensive pressure.

“What I’ve been focused on recently is a lot of shots off the dribble, coming off screens. Mostly just boosting my three-point percentage,” he explained afterward. “There’s times where, in the game, I have to shoot those kind of shots, and I just want to be able to make them.”

Clarkson isn’t a bad shooter, but his three-point stroke isn’t anywhere near where it needs to be. He shot 32.2 percent in three seasons of college basketball and is up to 33.8 percent since entering the NBA.

There were 56 players who attempted at least 80 pull-up threes last season. Clarkson made 35.2 percent of his 108 tries. His volume was lower on a per-game average, but, for the optimistic, this technically made him more accurate than Damian Lillard, Chris Paul and James Harden while holding his own compared to Klay Thompson and Bradley Beal.

But those numbers still aren’t enough of a sample size to carry much weight: Clarkson isn’t a reliable deep threat. He doesn’t contort defensive game plans …

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